Since it's only a few days away until my grandma's birthday, I don't how how old she'll be, but I know she was born around 1931, so a finer mind than mine might be able to pull off the calculation.
Anyway since I never usually do any presents, this year I decided to change trend, since the years are passing and she has always been the best grandma one could hope for(still remember those WWII stories of cat eating and German raids).
Instead of just buying some random garbage as present, you know the little flower pot, that strawberry plant you see at the supermarket that already looks half dead, I decided to make something, as I feel that something made is more true and means much much more.
Especially for grandparents, who were born before this consumerist society had gotten hold.
I decided to try again my chili and herbs olive oil concoction that I made several weeks ago, which given the Google Analytics has proved fairly popular among the few of you who click on this blog.
I couldn't find a bottle that was as cool as that I used the last time, a Japanese whiskey bottle, but I still found a good one in the wine cellar below the house. Obviously you have clean it, I filled it with boiling water, let sit, and repeat for three times. The temperature of the water should take away most germs, I hope anyway.
That's the bottle in the cleaning process.
Then here come the ingredients:
First some sun dried chillies, laurel leaf and garlic.
Then some rosemary and more chillies.
Obviously both the rosemary and the laurel come from the garden, on top is the rosemary, below the laurel.
Here is the finished product, bottle well filled up Italian extra virgin olive oil, I also added some black pepper from Cote D'Ivoire and some red berries, that we usually use as seasoning on roasted meats here in Italy, the berries have quite an interesting taste, spicy, yet not in the same way you'd expect chili, as they are more related to pepper.
Here its ready to be stacked away until me nan's birthday.
So I hope grandma likes it hot, she's got to be well pleased she's not Wayne Rooney's nan or else his idea of a birthday present might be more in line with this.
Anyway since I never usually do any presents, this year I decided to change trend, since the years are passing and she has always been the best grandma one could hope for(still remember those WWII stories of cat eating and German raids).
Instead of just buying some random garbage as present, you know the little flower pot, that strawberry plant you see at the supermarket that already looks half dead, I decided to make something, as I feel that something made is more true and means much much more.
Especially for grandparents, who were born before this consumerist society had gotten hold.
I decided to try again my chili and herbs olive oil concoction that I made several weeks ago, which given the Google Analytics has proved fairly popular among the few of you who click on this blog.
I couldn't find a bottle that was as cool as that I used the last time, a Japanese whiskey bottle, but I still found a good one in the wine cellar below the house. Obviously you have clean it, I filled it with boiling water, let sit, and repeat for three times. The temperature of the water should take away most germs, I hope anyway.
That's the bottle in the cleaning process.
Then here come the ingredients:
Then some rosemary and more chillies.
Obviously both the rosemary and the laurel come from the garden, on top is the rosemary, below the laurel.
Here is the finished product, bottle well filled up Italian extra virgin olive oil, I also added some black pepper from Cote D'Ivoire and some red berries, that we usually use as seasoning on roasted meats here in Italy, the berries have quite an interesting taste, spicy, yet not in the same way you'd expect chili, as they are more related to pepper.
Here's the bottle sitting down before it can be tasted, better to keep it protected from direct light, the previous photos under the sun, were just for showing how nice the colors, the green and red look together with the oil inside the bottle.
Until next time, have fun, experiment, keep it foolish.
